Railbanking is a good way to let the land be used while not forcing the railroad to "pretend" it is still an active line.
Good use case for a public-private bargain, where the public gets the utility of a trail (and potentially a functional railroad, if needed in the future) and private gets to keep the most valuable land utilization rights (ability to convert back to railroad).
One of my historical fascinations is watching the co-evolution of rail and telecommunications line networks, since both have similar needs.
There's a lot of cross over. One history of Sprint evolved long distance service as a way to make money off Southern Pacific's internal phone services, that were mostly run in rail right of way. I've heard of specialized fiber laying train cars that trench, lay fiber, and cover it up as the car moves along the track.
Communication and transportation routes are broadly compatible.
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights...
I didn't even think about this possibility(!) -- but yes, it would make tremendous sense for fiber optic companies to route fiber optic cables along railroad tracks (both currently used and converted to other use, i.e., hiking/walking/biking paths) as the land rights are already established -- that is, there is no need to buy out homeowners/landowners en route; no need to engage in "eminent domain" lawsuits with property owners, etc., etc. -- and because the cables typically would go underground, that is, they wouldn't interfere with the natural scenery; the Nature above...
I'm sure many companies are already engaged in this pursuit -- but I like the idea of getting not just one, but multiple social value-adds from given pre-purposed tracts of land...
Anyway, an excellent observation!
More recently and closer to home, Union Pacific abandoned part of its Valley Subdivision from Lincoln,NE to Marysville, KS and successfully railbanked the entire route. Adjacent landowners fought it to no avail. Today the trail has three segments--Lincoln to Beatrice, NE, Beatrice to the Kansas/Nebraska state line, and from the state line to Marysville, KS.
As I understand, railbanking is a way for railroads to abandon a route while protecting the right of way for possible future railroad use. In the mean time the trails make use of the right of way and maintain it.